For the Oscars, Google Brought Back This 2013 Spot About an Indian Man Who Finds Long-Lost Family After 25 Years

True Story Of Saroo Brierley's Journey Home Comes to Life in Brand's Latest Film

Published on Oct 16, 2013

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During the Oscars, Google aired the spot version of its 2013 short film about Saroo Brierly, whose story made headlines once again as the subject of the Garth Davis-directed film "Lion" starring Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman. The film recounts how Brierly, as a boy, was separated from his family at a railway station. He finally found them, a quarter of a century later, with the help of Google Earth.

After the separation, Brierley ended up in an an Indian orphanage and was subsequently adopted by an Australian family. Ever since, he had flashbacks of his town in India. As an adult, he used Google Earth to explore the area surrounding where he was lost. Eventually, he traced a path right back to his front door and his mother. His story made global headlines (you can read the full version in Vanity Fair's article) and, most recently, was dramatized in "Lion."